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After the curious mix of frustration and delight of the avalanche of chances against Stoke City and Burnley and then the stroll against an awful Swansea side, United had to get used to a more conservative supply of opportunities and less possession.

But there was a lack of craft and finesse and nobody suffered more from that than Marcus Rashford initially.

Two goals after just over half an hour in this fixture last February and Mourinho gave the fans the forward selection they wanted by playing the Mancunian as a central striker and recalling Anthony Martial .

But Martial was never really in it and that left Rashford up against an Arsenal defence far more solid than we'd expected and certainly not as vulnerable when the academy product made hay late last winter.

United missed a big game fro Paul Pogba

He really needed Paul Pogba to prove that it's not just against a weak opponent like Swansea tat he can make an impact. But the world record buy just couldn't turn on his obvious class when it was needed most.

United were getting no help from referee Andre Marriner but as annoying as that is sometimes you have to put the injustice of overlooked penalties aside and do something about it yourselves.

Eventually United woke up to the fact that it was they who were making this rearguard look like Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Steve Bould et al from more solid bygone days at the back for the Gunners.

Once that sunk in and the early threat of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil faded that heavyweight worthy scalp started to look on.

Mata slams in the opener for United

Taking Martial off and adding Wayne Rooney to the equation on the hour certainly helped and within eight minutes a cut back from Ander Herrera was slammed in by Juan Mata.

If it took a while for United to realise that Arsenal's defence was still a weak link it took the visitors even longer to realise the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic had long since departed Old Trafford.

If February was a good day for Rashford this one turned into a bad day as the match-winner last season allowed Arsenal to create their late equaliser. He was skinned easily by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - there was nobody at the back for the Reds who could out jump or out power Olivier Giroud.

As the Frenchman rose you just knew that that scalp will have to wait for another day.